219 is the North American telephone area code for northwest Indiana that includes Lake, Porter, La Porte, Newton, and Jasper counties. The area code includes the cities of Schererville, Chesterton, Lake Station, Crown Point, Cedar Lake, Hobart, Whiting, Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, Merrillville, Munster, Griffith, Highland, Portage, Valparaiso, Michigan City, St. John, La Porte and Rensselaer. 219 is largely coextensive with the Indiana side of the Chicago metropolitan area. Service is provided by Frontier Communications.

History[link]

In 1948, area code 317 was split into northern and central sections. Central Indiana retained the 317 area code, with northern Indiana receiving 219; the first area code created after the NANP system went into effect a year earlier. Eventual depletion of numbers by the end of the 20th century prompted a three-way split of 219. A random drawing was held to determine which region would retain 219, which was northwest Indiana. Area code 574 was then assigned to the north-central area (South Bend), and area code 260 to the northeast including (Fort Wayne). The area codes split on January 15, 2002, with mandatory dialing taking effect on June 14, 2002.^[1]

See also[link]

• List of NANP area codes

External links[link]

• NANPA Area Code Map of Indiana
• List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 219 Area Code

References[link]

Coordinates: 41°08′55″N 87°14′24″W / 41.148672°N 87.239914°W / 41.148672; -87.239914